Tesla is facing lot of challenges with Indian government and is working through: Elon Musk

Tesla’s Chief Executive, Elon Musk said that his company is facing a ‘lot of challenges’ with the Indian government for getting the brand to the country. But the company is ‘still working through’, he said.

A Twitter user Pranay Pathole had written “Any further update as to when Tesla will launch in India? They’re pretty awesome and deserve to be in every corner of the world!”

Tweeting his reply to a Tesla enthusiast from India who was seeking an update about Tesla’s launch in India, Musk wrote -

Musk replied, “Still working through a lot of challenges with the government”.

As of December and as per information shared by the Centre-controlled Vahan Sewa, Tesla had secured the approval for three more models from India’s vehicle testing and certification agencies.

Tesla India Motors and Energy, the India subsidiary of Tesla Inc, has received a homologation certificate for three more models, making it a total of seven models to receive approval, as per the information.

However suspense remains on the timeline for the introduction of Tesla in India.

While Tesla has been lobbying for a cut in import duty with the Indian government on fully imported cars, the Centre has been pushing for local manufacturing and faster adoption of EVs in India. PLI schemes, cut in GST, income tax incentives through relief on interest on loans taken for the purchase of EV are some of the methods adopted by the government in order to push for local manufacturing and make the country a hub of EV production in the world to rival the current powerhouse China, where more than 70 per cent of the world’s electric cars are made.

Several states including Maharashtra, Telengana, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu have made attempts to woo Tesla to invest in a factory.

Import duty on EVs in India is 100 per cent if the CIF (cost insurance and freight) value is more than $40,000 and 60 per cent if the CIF value is less than $40,000. Model Y and Model 3 of Tesla are priced in the range of $38,700-41,200.